College Basketball: NSU men stomp Wayne

December 09, 2007

WAYNE, Neb. - The Northern State men's basketball team got important second-half plays from a number of players to earn a big road win over Wayne State Saturday. The Wolves won the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game 75-68. Craig Nelson, Levi Hamilton and Kevin Ratzsch combined for 40 second-half points to rally the Wolves to the win. NSU trailed by five several minutes into the second half, but then outscored Wayne 34-22 the rest of the way. The Wolves went on a 11-0 run during one stretch during that offensive blitz. “We learned a lot from this game,” said Northern State coach Don Meyer. “We have to have our younger guys do a better job when they come in, so we don't have to play our veterans so much. When you are playing bad, you have to flush out the bad plays and keep playing.” For the second night in a row, the Wolves won despite being outrebounded by a significant margin. The Wolves were outrebounded 48-34 Saturday and 30-23 against Southwest Minnesota State Friday. Wayne had 26 offensive rebounds. “They killed us on the boards,” said Meyer. “I can only think of a couple of games where a team got that many offensive rebounds on us. They did a great job. At the end, they also did a nice job of pressing us, and we did a poor job of attacking it.” After NSU built a 69-59 lead with 61 seconds left, Wayne got a couple of steals. However, the Wildcats only got one basket. Nelson and Ratzsch preserved the win with four and two free throws, respectively, in the final 41 seconds. “We were great at the free throw line,” said Meyer. The Wolves made 17 of their 19 free throws. Ratzsch and Nelson combined to score 86 points during the weekend wins on the road. That equals 56 percent of Northern State's points in the game. The Wolves will play a doubleheader at Wachs Arena in Aberdeen on Tuesday. The NSU women will play St. Cloud at 6 p.m. while the NSU men will play Briar Cliff at 8 p.m. The Wayne men will next take a trip to California. The Wildcats will play Biola at 9 p.m. Dec. 17 at La Mirada and then California-San Diego at San Diego at 9:30 p.m. Dec. 18. Fan bus: Northern State will take a fan bus to Sioux Falls for the men's and women's basketball games on Saturday at Augustana College. Tickets are $40 per person; price includes an alumni reception held at Champs at 5 p.m. and a ticket to both games (women 6 p.m.; men 8 p.m.). The bus will leave Aberdeen from the NSU bookstore at 11 a.m. Reservations: Jackie Witlock (605) 626-3377. NORTHERN STATE (8-1, 3-1): Kevin Ratzsch 7-13 5-5 22, Levi Hamilton 5-11 3-4 13, Dan Magrino 0-0 0-0 0, Craig Nelson 6-11 5-6 22, Kyle Schwan 0-8 0-0 0, Luke Wicks 3-8 0-0 7, Derek Hoellein 1-2 0-0 3, Dan DeWitt 0-0 4-4 4, Mitch Boeck 0-1 0-0 0, Robert Thomas 2-3 0-0 4, Marty Gregor 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-57 17-19 75. WAYNE STATE (6-4, 2-2): Sean Thurston 1-4 2-5 4, Matt Rathje 4-9 4-8 12, Jamar Diggs 6-16 0-0 12, David Walters 2-11 1-2 5, Bryce Caldwell 5-12 2-2 17, Jonathon Thomas 6-11 1-1 15, Zane Abner 0-1 0-0 0, Blake McGriff 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Trueblood 1-1 0-0 2, Brian Metz 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 25-67 11-20 68. Halftime score - Wayne 32-31. 3-point field goals - Northern 10-19 (Ratzsch 3-4, Nelson 5-9, Wicks 1-5, Hoellein 1-1); Wayne 7-22 (Diggs 0-2, Caldwell 5-10, Thomas 2-4, Walters 0-6). Total fouls - Northern 17; Wayne 20. Fouled out - None. Rebounds - Northern 34 (Hamilton 8); Wayne 48 (Caldwell 11). Assists - Northern 11 (Schwan 4); Wayne 11 (Diggs 5). Blocks - Northern 7 (Ratzsch 4); Wayne 5 (Diggs 3). Steals - Northern 7 (Ratzsch 2, Wicks 2); Wayne 5 (Thurston 2, Caldwell 2). Turnovers - Northern 13; Wayne 14. Officials - Al Monaco, Justin Pavich, Greg Weller. A - 746.